A new phase of the season is about to begin. It’s time for the playoffs, in which everything is possible. Funnily enough three of the four match-ups of the quarter-finals are the same as in 2015. The only new entry in the top 8 is Padova who clinched seventh place at the last minute. The series will be played on the best of five (three wins needed).
Regular season winner, Civitanova will take on Latina, a team it had knocked out of the Italian Cup quarter-finals. Blengini’s men lost only twice all season and finished top with a seven-point advantage on the second, Modena. The only disappointment came in the cup semi-finals against Trento, but they bounced back very quickly. Latina is a tough team to beat, testimony is last year’s quarter-finals, when they had upset Civitanova in the deciding game 3, with Blengini on the Latina bench at the time. Latina slipped to eighth in the table in the last round. Molfetta and Padova took advantage of their defeat in Perugia to move above them in the standings.
In spite of an early elimination in the Champions League, Modena proved it was always strong in the knock-out competitions like in their winning Italian Cup run. Second in the table, they will play host to the team that beat them in the last regular season game, Padova. The latter bounced back from an unexpected defeat against Padova to upset Modena and move up to seventh. The bad news for Padova however is that in ten previous playoffs games, they never even managed to get one victory.
In spite of losing its last regular season game to Civitanova, Trento has a good reason to celebrate. Indeed, the club welcomed back the super star spiker Matey Kaziyski. Last year, Trento had knocked out Molfetta on their way to the league title, but this season proved more difficult against the southerners with two of the four encounters lost. However, they knocked them out of the Italian Cup in the quarter-finals. As for Molfetta, a superb win over Piacenza meant they finished on a high in sixth place in a season that was characterised by two changes of coach, the last one to take charge being Vincenzo Di Pinto.
A 3-1 win over Monza secured fourth place for Verona and the court advantage against the fifth, Perugia. At the same time, it ended Monza’s final hopes to snatch a place in the top 8. Last season, in that same quarter-final, it was Perugia who made it to the semi-finals. This season, top scorer Atanasijevic and co had the better in the two Italian Cup games, while Giani’s men won both league matches. Sasha Starovic is close to 1500 points in the league.
League playoffs, quarter-finals game 1
Thursday 10 March at 8.30pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Ninfa Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Diretta streaming su www.raisport.rai.it
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
DHL Modena – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Quarter-finals game 2
Sunday 13 March at 5pm
Exprivia Molfetta – Diatec Trentino Live RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 13 March at 6pm
Ninfa Latina – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tonazzo Padova – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Ninfa Latina
Past encounters: 42 (34-8 Civitanova)
This season: 4 times – twice in the league (3-2 Civitanova then 3-0 f0r Latina). Twice in the cup quarter-finals (Civitanova won both 3-0).
Micah Christenson (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “I can’t wait to embark on my first league playoffs. The Italian league is really top level and in this phase the level will be even higher. I am extremely excited. We know Latina well, we have already met them four times this season: our goal to win game 1 will be to play our game and maintain our focus”.
Andrea Rossi (Ninfa Latina): “We’re up against the team that proved stronger than all the others in the regular season. We know we need a breakthrough to beat them but we will try to give it a good fight already in this first encounter. We were not favourite either last year, but we know how it went. This year, they have an even stronger roster, it will be even harder, but we start from 0-0 and who knows what can happen”.
DHL Modena – Tonazzo Padova
Paste encounters: 84 (69-15 Modena)
This season: 2 in the league, Both won away from home, first Modena 3-0 then Padova 3-1.
In the playoffs: 10 times: once in the 8th of finals (Modena), twice in the quarters (Modena won both), 3 times in the semi-finals (all Modena) and 4 times in the finals (All Modena again).
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “We had a great regular season but now starts the best part. We start over in the playoffs but we are aware of our abilities. We played top quality volleyball in spite of an exhausting season. We will play with extreme focus against Padova, with maximum respect but without any fear. I am sure that the fans will have an important role as always. I want to see the PalaPanini all yellow, ready to push the players to victory”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “It’s obvious that this playoffs series against Modena is almost impossible for us. We earned this opportunity thanks to a terrific season so we’ll face the coming games without any pressure. We’ll just try to play our best volleyball”.
Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Molfetta
Past encounters: 10 (7-3 Trento)
This season: 4 times – twice in the regular season (both won 3-0 at home, first Molfetta then Trento). And twice in the cup quarter-finals: (Trento won the first leg 3-0 away, then Molfetta won 3-2 away).
In the playoffs: Twice in the quarters (Trento won both).
Sebastian Solé (Diatec Trentino): “The best moment of the year has finally come. We couldn’t wait for the playoffs to defend our title. But the first step is to overcome Molfetta and it won’t be easy. This is a very strong team that plays extremely well at home. We have to find our best volleyball very quickly to have our chance to qualify for the semi-finals”.
Michele Fedrizzi (Exprivia Molfetta): “I am rather satisfied with our regular season. I started on the bench but then I had more opportunities to play. And now I will play in the playoffs given the injuries to Randazzo and Del Vecchio. Kaziyski’s arrival makes Trento even stronger ahead of tomorrow’s game. But we will give everything we have to play our best volleyball. It was a bit special for me to meet Trento in the regular season, but now it’s the playoffs, there’s no place for emotions”.
Past encounters: 15 (11-4 Perugia)
This season: 4 times – Verona won both regular season game (3-0 away then 3-2 home). Perugia won the 2 Italian Cup games (3-2 away then 3-1 home).
In the playoffs: 3 times in the quarter-finals (Perugia 2-1).
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “We will play these quarter-finals against one of the strongest teams in the league. This is a match-up that keeps repeating itself of late. We’re glad to meet a great team but what came out of this season is that we’ll have the court advantage. We did a little better than them in regular season. In this type of games, many factors count, like the quality of play, the mentality. It’s not in-or-out so we need to handle our emotions and energy. This is a very special moment of the season, but this is the type of games that all the players and teams want to play”.
Emanuele Birarelli (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “For most of the season we have been higher than this fifth place but this is how it went. We have to accept it and play this tight and difficult quarter-final. I expect some tight encounters, in which we will have our chances. We proved several times we could reach a high level of play. We’ll need more consistency however. In our last two games, we have seen some improvement, especially on the serve, which is a fundamental that feeds off confidence. We have more belief in our serve right now and we think that can also be an important weapon. Verona has the court advantage so we know that if we want to go through we not only have to be perfect at home but we also have to win at least once on the road. But we have what it takes to do it”.
